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Smoking could be hazardous to your Apple warranty

If you are a smoker and have a Mac, Apple may choose not to honor your …

If you're a Mac user and smoking is your crutch, you may want to leave the room the next time you light up. According to multiple users, as reported by the Consumerist, smoking in the vicinity of your Apple hardware is enough for Apple to deny you service, even if you are under warranty. In at least one instance, a customer challenged the decision by bringing it to the office of Steve Jobs, but without any success.

In the first case, a black MacBook was taken into the Jordan Creek Apple Store with overheating issues. After some time at the store, the customer received a call from an employee saying that the warranty had ben voided due to "health risks of second hand smoke." In another instance, an iMac brought to an Authorized Apple Service Center met a similar fate when it was labeled a "bio-hazard" by the technician. Apple responded to the customer's complaints by saying that nicotine was on OSHA's hazardous substance list; as a result, the company would not make an employee work on the machine. A third account, which also ended without service, also cited OSHA in the explanation.

Anecdote time: When I worked as an Apple Specialist about five years ago, we worked on nicotine-stained machines and it was rather disgusting—often they smelled up the entire shop. That being said, we never denied a repair due to cigarette smoke exposure. It seems that if you have a Mac that has been exposed to a large amount of second-hand smoke, you may be better off finding a privately owned authorized repair center. In that case, single parts will be removed from the machine and sent back to Apple (if it's a desktop, anyway), increasing the odds that you will get a repair under warranty.

If the machine is a portable, though, you may be out of luck. More often than not, Apple requires authorized dealers to send laptops in for service.

Is Apple within its rights here? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.